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To say food science has come a long way would be an understatement. There have been so many recent advances in the way that food is engineered, that it makes it possible for those with allergies and/or dietary restrictions to indulge in items that would have once been forbidden.

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to serve as one of three judges at Cupcake Camp TO. I spent close to 3 hours eating 50+ cupcakes, and inevitably ended up in a sugar coma. At the end of the day, the cupcake that, in my eyes, took the top prize was one that had neither gluten, nor sugar in it. If I hadn’t read the description on the card, I wouldn’t have believed it.

On a recent trip to Leslieville, I stumbled upon LPK’s Culinary Groove, an award winning pastry and chocolate shop that caters sweet treats that are a combination of organic, vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, sugar-free and even dairy-free.

I picked up one of their Brownies (No Gluten, No Soy, No Nuts), a Coconut Lime Cupcake (Vegan, No Dairy, No Gluten, No Nuts), and an Orange Caramel Truffle Tart (Vegan, No Dairy, No Nuts).

You’ll just have to ignore all the “No’s” in parentheses, because at no point while I was consuming these desserts did I feel like I was missing anything. The brownie was chewy, chocolaty, and delectable. My favourite, the Coconut Lime Cupcake, was tender and moist, while it’s airy light frosting laced with an edge of lime complemented the richness of the coconut cake.

My mind was baffled when I dug into the tart. How was it possible to create a fork tender crust, and chocolate ganache without the addition of butter? Fools me, but well into these treats I decided it was probably best to stop asking questions and focus on consumption instead.